Is Thirty Year Old Weed Conviction Considered Terrorist Activity Now By USA Customs And Immigration Services? Was Terrorism Ever Really The Issue

Victoria’s Myles Wilkinson won a trip to see the Super Bowl, but was denied U.S. entry because of an old marijuana conviction. (CBC)

Was Terrorism Ever Really The Only Issue On Both Governments Agendas?

I remember pre Harper just after 9/11 the powers that be in the USA requesting that we share our total criminal data base with them so that they could better stop any Canadian terrorists or terrorists living in Canada from crossing into the USA. At the time they were met with a firm no from the Prime MinisterJean Chretien and the then in power Liberal Government of Canada, because:

It intruded on Canadian citizen privacy unnecessarily if the only reason for needing the information was to stop terrorist, or would be terrorist it was deemed the USA only needed the information on those types of criminals.

That the USA would use the Canadian criminal data base to deny access to the USA to Canadian citizens for reasons other than terrorist threat possibility and for relatively minor offenses like convictions that were dealt with by a fine, or by probation.

That the USA would go back to the time of a legal age of a person which is 18 years old and deny the person access into the USA based on a one time only crime like having a fight, or smoking weed, which had nothing to do with fighting terrorism.

Then came Captain America Steven Harper and his Justice League of America the Conservative Party of Canada. Stephen Harper began to take steps to give the USA everything they had ever wanted in terms of access to things that they had never had, but always wanted and it became immediately crystal clear that Canada while under the leadership of Stephen Harper would remain an independent country in name only. I remember George Bush Jr. giving his very public endorsement of Stephen Harper for the office of Prime minister and thinking how odd for a foreign leader openly get involved in another country’s election and especially the USA in Canada’s, but I would hazard the guess the good old George was paying his pieces of silver to our Judas.

Steven Harper by his actions excepted the argument that Canada was partially to blame for 9/11 and that 9/11 would not have been possible if it were not for the slackness of the Canadian immigration system that allowed terrorist to be living in Canada, who would cross into the USA take flying lessons and eventually cross over into the USA undetected, because the USA did not have access to our criminal data bases a commit the terrorists act of 9/11. With this acceptance of the USA position Steven Harper told his the lie and said that only the information of suspected terrorist, or of those considered to be capable of terrorist actscriminal records would be share with the USA. We now know that this was a lie because what was suspected that the USA would do to our citizens if it ever gained access to our criminal data base at the USA border is happening now.

Canadians are being denied aces into the USA because of things mentioned above. Now they always had the right to deny access to anyone they wanted at their borders, but they only had access to those Canada thought to be dangerous and those under order not to leave the country, or had warrants pending and those with current charges, not the all telling all revealing cherry picking access thy enjoy right now and are abusing in my opinion to make a fast buck off of selling temporary visas or one time visit permits. If I am truly an undesirable and considered a threat to your country how does paying a $500.00 fee somehow make me acceptable for a visit? this makes no sense to anyone one except the USA officials who in the great American tradition will try turn a profit selling 9/11 memorabilia and of course Stephen Harper and his Conservative Government of Canada.

On a personal note I have a young friend in his mid 30s who got in a fight when he was 18 years old with another young man in his neighborhood. They exchanged blows my friend won and the loser called the police and pressed charges. No guns, no knives, no weapons at all were used and no one suffered any broken bones or lasting bad effects other than those to be expected to occur during a fight between to evenly sized and aged teenagers, but charges of assault were filed by the police and my friend was sent before a judge. My friend was found guilty of assaulting the other guy, but because both guys were involved in the hitting my friend was given probation and ordered to refrain from fighting. Over 18 years later and never having been found again of violating any law he was denied entry into the USA, because of the assault charge on his record, which has cost him over $2000.00 in attempts to get single trip entry visas into the USA, because since Harper’s changes to the parole and pardon systems he can not get a pardon either. I would point out at this point that Canada refuses to do this to the citizens of the USA, as thought the have no undesirables as far as we are concerned, or we are afraid of what their reaction will be as they consider themselves as a country as being above international law.

The we have the guy who smoke some weed back in the day and got charged with having some on his procession, got arrested, went to court was fined $50.00 and has been denied into the USA to go to the Super Bowl all expense paid trip he won as a contest prize. The crime if we can still considerate that happened over 30 years ago and he has done nothing illegal in all of that time, so I ask you what is up Canada? Why has our government made it possible for this to happen to honest hard-working Canadians who are no threat to anyone who made one little mistake in their past and have paid the price for it already? Why are we not stopping the flow of this type of information to the USA now that we know how they are abusing it? Why are we so relaxed at our borders, or do we not have the same access to their criminal data basis as they have to ours? Now just a little strange to me is the fact that a guy who did commit a terrorist act in another country while living in Canada with a dual citizenship did not get stopped from traveling abroad and could have easily entered the USA instead of Bulgaria where he did go and was involved in a terrorist bus bombing. Is preventing this type of person from traveling not what all this is supposed to be stopping, or is the main purpose of all this hyped up border security for keeping out 60 year olds convicted of one crime in their whole lives punishable by a $50.00 fine? I believe that everything that is being done at the border will not stop one terrorist act, or one crime from being committed by travelers in either country, because all terrorists do not have criminal records and are usually picked for their ability to travel easily between countries and if that is so, “What is up Canada?” What is next, stopping 60-year-old women from entering the USA, because she got busted 30 years ago for prostitution, because the big bad USA is a afraid of what?; that she might sell her body once again, only this time on the streets of their fair country? I do not know, say what you like, but soon no one will be able to travel or work abroad unless you can afford to pay for special visas, which leads me to ask the question, “Is all of this really about border security or just another money grab in the guise of border protection”?